The first reeled pipeline
The first reeled pipeline was pioneered during World War II to
supply large quantities of fuel to allied armed forces in Europe.
Known as Operation PLUTO (pipe line under the ocean), the
top-secret subsea pipeline was constructed from flexible steel
pipe and run under the English Channel from England to France.
PLUTO was an unprecedented leap in pipe technology that
established reeled pipe as an efficient means of installation.
4
Offshore steel reinforced spoolable pipe
The French Petroleum Institute (IFP) championed flexible steel
pipeline technology in the early 1970s with its patent for a high
pressure, flexible pipe.
5
The IFP prototypes laid the groundwork
for the development of flexible subsea flowlines. Flexible
pipelines quickly revolutionised the offshore oil industry, enabling
the exploration and production of a new frontier, the petroleum
reservoirs buried deep beneath oceans.
Onshore steel reinforced spoolable pipe
Pipeline technology rapidly advanced over the following decades,
with Wellstream International Limited emerging as significant
innovator of deepwater flowlines and risers for the oil and gas
industry. Now a GE company, Wellstream drew on more than
two decades of experience manufacturing steel reinforced
pipe for demanding offshore environments to pioneer the
best possible solution for onshore and shallow water pipeline
applications.
The new product line was called FlexSteel, and it combined
chemically resistant high density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic with
steel reinforcements. Full production of FlexSteel began in 2004,
bringing to market a product that couples the best features of
flexible pipe with the durability of steel. The FlexSteel business
unit was later acquired by a privately owned firm in Houston,
Texas, and now operates under the name FlexSteel Pipeline
Technologies, Inc.
Design standards
The FlexSteel™ pipe design features an extruded polymer liner,
a layer of helically wrapped steel strips and an outer shield. The
smooth HDPE liner and shield provide resistance to corrosion.
The combination of the helically wound steel strips and HDPE
layers result in a strong, flexible pipe product that has a minimum
bend radius of 3 - 5 ft, among the lowest of any spoolable
reinforced pipe. The pipe is connected using a swaged system
of end fittings that are designed, manufactured and tested to
Figure 3.
Up to 6578 ft of continuous steel reinforced pipe can
be spooled onto a single reel.
Figure 5.
Corrosion resistance and zero-emissions ensure
minimal pipeline disturbance to the environment. (Photograph
courtesy of Carnegie Wave Energy)
Figure 2.
The extruded polymer liner and shield provide
corrosion resistance.
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World Pipelines
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JANUARY 2015
Figure 4.
Pipe deployment from a barge in Lake Maracaibo,
Venezuela.
